not agree to that, is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. again, there's no prospect to an agreement that doesn't involve the rates going up on the top 2%. >> "the new york times" reports that senior republican leadership aides are contemplating a fall-back position on a fiscal deal. they could foresee taking up and passing legislation this month to extend the tax cuts for the middle class and then resume the bitter fight over spending and taxes as the nation approaches the next hard deadline. it's statutory borrowing limit which could be reached in late january or february. speaking to a business roundtable, president obama responded to that idea this way. >> if congress in any way suggests that they're going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again, as part of a budget negotiation, which by the way we have never done in our history until we did this it last year, i will not play that game. >> john boehner and house republican leadership met with small business owners today to t